


exit strategy

by IWillNotBeSilenced



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic, the foxhole court
Genre: Anxiety, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Relationships, Kevin is comforted in canon-typical style by his boys, M/M, Panic Attack, The King's Men, intense staring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2020-01-14 16:01:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18479575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IWillNotBeSilenced/pseuds/IWillNotBeSilenced
Summary: Andrew would never ridicule Kevin for this. He could be cruel and violent and absent but never where Kevin was involved. He watched him like a hawk and lord protect anyone who tried to come between them in any way.Except Neil, maybe.That scene in TKM where Kevin locks himself in his room to have a panic attack and instead of IGNORING HIM BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT KEVIN DOES Neil and Andrew go to him and bring him down.





	exit strategy

‘Kengo Moriyama is in the hospital.’

Kevin made a sort of strangled yelp when he heard the news. He stepped backward, promptly tripped over Andrew’s desk chair and struggled to right himself on the edge of the table and stood, rigid, mouth moving wordlessly. He cast about the room wildly, not taking in a single one of his team mates or their varying degrees of dismay and shock. Hands clenching and unclenching at his sides, he whirled around and nearly collided with his bedroom door before slamming it behind him. 

Kevin crashed straight into his bathroom and braced himself against the edges of the sink. He could practically feel the silence left in the living room in his wake and gritted his teeth, trying to force himself to breathe evenly. A full-blown panic attack of the kind that Kevin was accustomed to would be very very audible through the paper-thin dormitory walls and he couldn’t deal with the thought that his team mates would hear and think him a coward, again, for freaking out and leaving instead of dealing with his fear of the Moriyamas. Worse still was the thought of them hearing and ignoring him entirely; just once he wished one of them would care enough to know how to talk him down, not out of obligation but genuine concern. Stupid. 

He tried three times to turn the tap on, scraping his knuckles and swearing as they slid off the metal twice before he managed to jerk the water on full force. He ducked his head to splash water on his face, hands shaking so much that he got most of it on the neck of his t-shirt, turning the material dark. He left the tap running and reached for the cabinet above the sink, fumbling for the half empty bottle of vodka stashed alongside his toothpaste. He unscrewed the lid with numb hands and took a swig, coughed at the burn and felt the bottle slip from seizing fingers and smash against the tiles.

‘Fuck.’ Kevin cursed and choked on the sob lodged like an Exy ball in his throat, sitting down heavily in the doorway of the open shower cubicle behind him, ignoring the way the leftover water from this morning’s shower soaked through his shorts. He curled in on himself and pressed one hand to his chest in a vain attempt to calm his racing heart and the knuckles of the other against his mouth until his lips went white, gasping breaths tearing raggedly through his body.  
He was vaguely aware of the door opening from the corner of his eye and a voice, low and tentative, saying, ‘Kevin?’  
Neil.

Kevin threw out the hand not fisted in his t shirt, trying to keep Neil at arm’s length and retain some semblance of self-preservation. ‘It’s fine. I’m fine. Go. Now.’

Neil cast a glance behind him and was encouraged by whatever he saw because he moved forward, slowly, as if approaching a wounded animal that could either bite or bolt if surprised (and Neil would be unsurprised if Kevin did either). He crouched in front of Kevin, knees in the spilled vodka and glass and looked up at his fellow striker. Kevin wouldn’t meet his eyes, still fighting to get his breathing under control. ‘Neil - ’ he gasped, ‘I – swear to- God. If you don’t - leave – right –‘

‘You’ll what?’ Neil cut in, unfazed by Kevin’s panic or his attempted threats. ‘Chew me out on the court? Hit me? I’d like to see you try shaking like that.’  
Kevin whipped round to look at him, furious, but knowing the pretence wasn’t holding with the complete lack of colour in his face, and saw Andrew leaning against the wall, examining his finger nails but no doubt taking in every word. 

Two spots of colour blazed high on Kevin’s cheeks, which Neil found ridiculous. Andrew was Kevin’s pitbull, wouldn’t let him go anywhere or do anything without him knowing about it and yet Kevin was ashamed of the very fear that had driven him to Andrew’s side in the first place. And yet Neil knew Andrew would never ridicule Kevin for this. He could be cruel and violent and absent but never where Kevin was involved. He watched him like a hawk and lord protect anyone who tried to come between them in any way.

Except Neil, maybe. 

Neil kept his eyes on Kevin’s and reached out, hovering his hand over Kevin’s leg and, when he didn’t look away from Neil’s level stare, brought his hand down on Kevin’s knee, splaying his fingers and applying pressure without breaking their stare. 

‘Kevin.’ Neil said.

‘Stop.’ Said Andrew.

Kevin pulled his gaze away from Neil’s and found Andrew’s eyes on him with the same intensity, arms folded across his chest. Kevin flicked his gaze between them, green on hazel and blue, and closed his eyes, tilting his head back, chest still heaving but more deeply, slowly and less erratic the longer they sat there. None of them spoke, simply waiting in silence for Kevin to get himself under control again. 

When Kevin opened his eyes and sat forward again, he brushed Neil’s hand from his knee, but it wasn’t as rough as Neil anticipated, before standing, levelling them both with an even stare and nodding, once, sharp. 

Andrew pushed off the wall with the leg that had been propping him there and left without a word. Neil stood more slowly, and his gaze lingered on Kevin for a moment before he followed Andrew out, leaving Kevin to clean up.

**Author's Note:**

> Second fic in a week?? Unreal.
> 
> Comments and kudos are literally getting me through my university finals and starting a new job, take pity on a gal.


End file.
